After a long search and much deliberation, we’ve found our artist for the exterior of our TTC CLRV! We could not be happier to announce that Jacquie Comrie, the Queen of Colour, will be painting #ourstreetcar at the end of September. Her exploration of colour as a tool for healing and rejuvenation strikes us as the best possible use of this unique opportunity. We live in a complicated world full of stress and distraction, a world in which many of us suffer the ill effects of negative emotions. We love Jacquie’s proposal to use a CLRV as a vibrant installation of colour… a moving colour wheel, healing hearts and minds as it snakes its way through the city. It is an opportunity for us to re-engage with our positive emotions and return to a simpler time, a time when feeling came more easily. Love what we’re doing? Help us bring #ourstreetcar to life at https://fundrazr.com/ourstreetcar

Happy to announce we’ve added Lukus Toane to the A Streetcar Named Toronto team. Lukus is the former Director of Exhibitions at the Gladstone Hotel. He will be responsible for curating the interior of the streetcar and knitting the various interior art activations into a cohesive theme, one built around soothing and delighting the rider. We think you are going to enjoy this. Look for the interior artists to be announced in mid-September.

Last week we held our Advisory Panel meeting to review the nearly 80 proposals we received for A Streetcar Named Toronto. Big thanks to Francisco Alvarez of OCAD University, Michelle Senayah of the Laneway Project and contemporary dancer Lauren Runions of I/O Movement for their thoughtful perspectives on the numerous proposals. Thanks to their input we are confident we can put together an art project that the people of Toronto won’t soon forget. Look out for announcements soon.

We’re on the lookout for one member to join our advisory panel to review for A Streetcar Named Toronto. This project will activate a TTC CLRV streetcar as a public art installation while remaining an in-service transit vehicle during the month of September 2019. Our ideal candidate finds themselves at the crossroads of art and urbanism and has a keen understanding of how public art can add to the vibrancy of our city. If you are interested, please send a cover letter and CV (re: Advisory Panel) to info@ourstreetcar.ca detailing what makes you a great candidate for this role. Deadline to submit is June 21, 2019. You would need to be available in Toronto the week of July 15, 2019 for a group review of the submissions. There will be a small honorarium paid. Thanks for your interest and please share.

We’re very excited to announce the launch of A Streetcar Named Toronto. Part art project, part urban exploration… our goal is to celebrate the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle before its curtain call at the end of 2019. Think of Toronto and you think of a CLRV, they mean that much. It’s hard to believe they’re almost gone.

This project has been over a year in the making and would not have been possible without the support of Brad Ross and Deborah Brown at the TTC. They saw the potential in doing something special around these vehicles and we can’t thank you enough for that.

Stay tuned for many updates over the next couple of months… there will be a lot of news. We’re putting a public art streetcar into service in September, supported by CLRV stories, history, and much more. We are also busy planning a fundraising campaign through our charity CityFund that will enable this project, and many others, to bring the city to life. Bye for now.